ISSN 0040-6015, Thermal Engineering, 2017, Vol. 64, No. 9, pp. 680–685. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc., 2017.

Original Russian Text © V.V. Bespalov, V.I. Bespalov, D.V. Melnikov, 2017, published in Teploenergetika.

STEAM BOILERS, POWER FUEL, BURNERS,

AND BOILER AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT

Investigation and Optimization of the Depth

of Flue Gas Heat Recovery in Surface Heat Exchangers
V. V. Bespalov*, V. I. Bespalov, and D. V. Melnikov
National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk, 634050 Russia
*e-mail: vic@tpu.ru
Received April 8, 2016; in final form, January 25, 2017

Abstract—Economic issues associated with designing deep flue gas heat recovery units for natural gas-fired boil-
ers are examined. The governing parameter affecting the performance and cost of surface-type condensing heat
recovery heat exchangers is the heat transfer surface area. When firing natural gas, the heat recovery depth
depends on the flue gas temperature at the condenser outlet and determines the amount of condensed water
vapor. The effect of the outlet flue gas temperature in a heat recovery heat exchanger on the additionally recov-
ered heat power is studied. A correlation has been derived enabling one to determine the best heat recovery depth
(or the final cooling temperature) maximizing the anticipated reduced annual profit of a power enterprise from
implementation of energy-saving measures. Results of optimization are presented for a surface-type condensing
gas–air plate heat recovery heat exchanger for the climatic conditions and the economic situation in Tomsk. The
predictions demonstrate that it is economically feasible to design similar heat recovery heat exchangers for a flue
gas outlet temperature of 10°С. In this case, the payback period for the investment in the heat recovery heat
exchanger will be 1.5 years. The effect of various factors on the optimal outlet flue gas temperature was analyzed.
Most climatic, economical, or technological factors have a minor effect on the best outlet temperature, which
remains between 5 and 20°С when varying the affecting factors. The derived correlation enables us to prelimi-
nary estimate the outlet (final) flue gas temperature that should be used in designing the heat transfer surface of
a heat recovery heat exchanger for a gas-fired boiler as applied to the specific climatic conditions.

Keywords: energy saving, heat recovery, optimization, surface heat exchanger, water vapor condensation, fuel
gases
DOI: 10.1134/S0040601517090026

At present, deep recovery of flue gas heat is used in
natural gas-fired boilers. Flue gases from other kinds
of fuel contain corrosive acids, the condensation of
which results in corrosion of equipment. Alongside
with contact heat recovery exchangers, surface heat
exchangers are employed. Generalization of the pub-
lished data has demonstrated that flue gas is usually
cooled down to 35–45°С due to the use of water as a
heated fluid. Deeper recovery requires a different
heated fluid (e.g., cold air), which can have working
temperatures below zero. The simplest and most
effective heat recovery exchanger is a plate heat
exchanger–condenser [1, 2]. The technology has been
developed according to which the incoming flue gas is
cooled in a gas–gas surface plate recuperative heat
exchanger 1 through heating the flue gas, which was
dried to avoid potential condensation of water vapor in
flue gas ducts and a stack (Fig. 1). Gas–air surface
plate condenser 2 cools down the flue gas further and
condenses water vapor with air heating. Air is fed to
the condenser by fan 3. Additional exhauster 4 com-
pensates for a pressure drop across the gas path in heat
exchanger 1 and condenser 2. The condensate is
treated and then used as makeup water in a heat net-
work or steam-turbine cycle. Among the advantages of
air is the fact that its outlet temperature of 30°C is
quite sufficient for air heating of production premises
and the generated positive pressure eliminates ingress
of cold air. Disadvantages of the proposed method
include that fact that a large amount of heated air can-
not always be used effectively, for example, in isolated
modular gas-fired boiler houses where the volume of
rooms is small. In this case, it is advisable to send to
heat recovery only a portion of flue gas that is used for
heating combustion air only. However, even then the
efficiency of a gas-fired boiler house can be increased
by 2–3%. The maximum efficiency of use of air is
attained in gas-fired boiler houses or cogeneration
power stations located at sites of industrial plants with
air heated production workshops. The considered
technology has not yet been used anywhere. A project
of a 10 MW industrial unit for the Tomsk TETs-3 and
several projects of smaller units were prepared.
In designing condensing heat recovery exchangers,
it is important to know the amount of thermal energy
contained in the flue gas as the latent heat of water
vapor condensation and a fraction of this energy that
can be recovered. Optimization of the flue gas tem-

680
 INVESTIGATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE DEPTH 681

perature at the condenser outlet becomes extremely

important, since this parameter has a direct effect of Dried flue Heated air
the heat transfer surface area of a heat recovery gas
exchanger, its cost, and, as a result, the anticipated
annual profit of a power plant.
Recirculation
gas duct
PROCEDURE OF INVESTIGATION 1 2
Energy saving measures should be estimated based
on profit E, which depends on the two governing fac- Supplied
tors: additional reduced cost for energy saving mea- wet flue 3
sures, C, and a decrease in the expenditures Eexp gas
E = Eexp – С. (1) Condensate Ambient
The annual reduced costs depends on the capital air
4
investment into the plant, K, the standard capital
investment efficiency factor Ec.i, and the current oper-
ating cost Ccur
Fig. 1. Process flow diagram of deep recovery of flue gas
С = Ec.iK + Ccur. (2) heat.
The operating cost for heat recovery exchangers is
basically determined by the energy consumption
required to overcome the additional hydraulic (or It is evident from (1) that the greater the difference
aerodynamic) resistance of heat exchangers and gas between the decrease in expenses and the reduced
ducts. A heat recovery unit is a compact power pack- additional costs, the higher the profit. The capital
age where all equipment items (such as fans, smoke investment is determined by the design capacity of
exhauster, condenser, and heat exchanger) are located heat recovery exchanger, Qrhe.
as close to each other as possible. Hence, the thermal Since the current operating cost depending on the
power of a heat recovery exchanger, which depends on current capacity of the heat recovery exchanger is
the flue gas flow (which is a heat source), determines related with an annual decrease in the expenses by
the air flow (which is a heat consumer), thereby pro- correlation (3), combining expression (1) with equa-
viding the operating energy consumption proportional tions (2)–(4) yields
to the unit heat capacity. The additional energy cost in
the test facility, Ca.c amounts to 3–5% of the recovered E = Eexp – (Ec.iFCar + EexpCa.c)
heat in terms of energy and approximately 10–12% in = Eexp (1 – Ca.c) – Ec.iFCar,
terms energy expenses [1]. Then or with equations (5), (6)
Ccur = EexpCa.c. (3)
Δ QC g
The capital expenses can generally be estimated E = (1 − C a.c ) − Е c.i FC ar . (7)
depending on the heat transfer surface area F, m2, and η bQhv
the specific cost for its manufacture, Car, rub/m2:
Here, ΔQ and F depend directly on the design
K = FCar. (4) capacity of the heat recovery exchanger.
A decrease in the expenses for the heat source due The required (design) area of heat transfer surface
to deep recovery of flue gas heat with constant heat can be found from the heat transfer equations wherein
delivery to the consumers will cut down the annual the design heat load is taken as the initial load:
fuel consumption ΔВ and the cost for it
Qhre × 10 3
ΔQ F = , (8)
ΔB = , (5) k Δt
η bQhv
where k is the total heat transfer coefficient, W/(m2 K);
where ΔQ is the annual amount of heat obtained from
Δt is the mean temperature drop, °С.
a heat recovery exchanger, MJ; η b is the boiler net
In a general case, Qrhe = f (Gf.g., α, d1, d0, t1, t0), where
efficiency; Qhv is the fuel heating value, MJ/m3.
Gf.g. is the mass flowrate of the dry flue gas, kg/s; α is the
For gaseous fuel price Сg, rub/m3 excess air factor; d1, d0 are the flue gas moisture content
at the inlet and the outlet, respectively, g/kg of dry gas
Δ QC g (d.g.); t1, t0 are the gas temperatures at the inlet and the
E exp = Δ BC g = . (6)
η bQhv outlet, respectively, °С.

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682 BESPALOV et al.

The initial moisture content of the flue gas is deter-
mined by the fuel composition, the excess air factor,
and the initial air moisture content. The latter is usu-
ally known. At the atmospheric pressure, the tempera-
ture dependence of the saturation moisture content
can be described by the correlation
exchanger capacity as a function of the outlet flue gas
temperature:
Qcond (t 0 )  = G f.g.с p (t1 – t 0 )
(15)
+ G w.v.h1" – G f.g.d 0h0" × 10 –3.

d sat (t ) = 622 × 10 b , where b = 156 + 8.12t . (9)

b
Below are presented the results of calculation of the
760 − 10 236 + t amount of heat that can be recovered from the flue gas
Cooling of the flue gas below the water vapor dew having a flowrate of 1 m3/s:
point results in its condensation. The theoretical lower
limit is t0 = 0°С at which d0 = 3.77 g/kg d.g. Excess air factor α 1.2
The maximum possible amount of the condensed Moisture content, g/kg d.g:
water Dc, kg/kg d.g. will be determined by the differ- at the inlet, d1 125.7
ence in flue gas moisture content between the inlet
at the outlet, d0 3.77
and the outlet
Flue gas temperature, °С, at:
Dc = (d1 – d0) × 10–3.
inlet, t1 56.7
To facilitate comparison, below are presented pre- outlet, t0 0
dictions for a flue gas flow of 1 m3/s with an excess air
factor of α = 1.2 that is typical for a 2.7 MW gas-fired Saturated water vapor enthalpy, kJ/kg:
boiler. h1" at temperature t1 2603.7
The mass flowrates of dry flue gas Gf.g and water
vapor Gw.v, kg/s, are calculated based the flue gas com- h0" at temperature t0 2501.1
position. Mass flowrate, kg/s:
The maximum potential flow of condensate is dry flue gas, Gf.g 1.0982
Gcond = DcondGf.g. water vapor, Gw.v 0.138
The mass flowrate of residual water vapor with the Heat capacity of dry flue gas, сp, kJ/(kg K) 1.0
exhaust flue gas is Maximum recovered condensate flow, 0.134
Gres.v = Gf.gd0 × 10–3. (10) Gcond, kg/s

The heat power recovered on condensation of the
water vapor is calculated by the thermal balance equa-
tion
Qcond = ΔQf.g + Qw.v – Qv, (11)
where Qcond. is the maximum theoretical capacity of
the condenser;
ΔQf.g = Gf.g. сp (t1 – t0) (12)
is the heat released on cooling of the dry flue gas; ср is
the heat capacity of dry flue gas at constant pressure;
Qw.v. = G w.v.h1"   (13)
is the heat of the water vapor at the inlet; h1" is the
enthalpy of saturated water vapor at temperature t1;
Q v = G v h0" (14)
is the heat of the residual water vapor; h0" is the
enthalpy of saturated water vapor at temperature t0.
Balance equation (11) has been derived assuming
that there is no heat loss due to elevated condensate
temperature.
Substituting expressions (10) and (12)–(14) in
equation (11) yields a correlation for the recovery heat
Maximum theoretical capacity of the condenser, 411.2
Qcond, kW
The predictions demonstrate that, under the
above-mentioned conditions, an additional heat out-
put of 411 kW can be obtained in theory.
In designing a surface type condensing heat recov-
ery exchanger with air heating [2], it is important to
consider the best depth of heat recovery and assume
the outlet flue gas temperature t0 offering such operat-
ing conditions. These parameters affect the heat trans-
fer surface area and the cost of the unit. The mean
temperature difference Δt is found for the counter-
flow of heat carriers. The heated air temperature rises
from ta1 to ta2, and flue gas giving up heat is cooled
down from t1 to t0 as the vapor condenses. It is advis-
able to heat air used for premises heating to 25–30°С
only, while the initial vapor condensation point in the
flue gas is much higher. Let us specify a certain air sub-
cooling Δtsat = t1 – ta2. Then
t 0 − t a1 − Δ t sat
Δt = . (16)
t −t
ln 0 a1
Δ t sat

THERMAL ENGINEERING Vol. 64 No. 9 2017

 INVESTIGATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE DEPTH
Qhre, kW
F, m2
400
300 1
2 where df.g. is the flue gas moisture content.
200
100
0 10 20 30 40 50 t0, °C
Fig. 2. Heat recovery exchanger heat capacity (1) and the
heat transfer surface area (2) as a function of the outlet flue
gas temperature.
It is evident that Δ t = f (t 0, Δ t sat, t a1), °С. Account-
ing for the fact that variables Δtsat and ta1 are not cor-
related with each other yields Δ t = f (t 0 ).
In formula (16), a logarithmic mean function is
adopted, although it is not always applicable for
designing a heat recovery exchanger. Condensation of
water vapor from gas mixtures was analyzed in [3, 4]
wherein the procedures were developed for predicting
the temperature distribution over a heat transfer sur-
face. The achieved accuracy of predictions by these
procedures is feasible for surface-type gas-water con-
densing heat recovery exchangers. These correlations
for temperature distribution are not used in this inves-
tigation.
The prediction of heat transfer coefficient from the
flue gas to air is most difficult. It is evident that the
heat transfer surface and the profit are, in fact, directly
proportional to its value. It can be increased consider-
ably only be increasing the heat transfer coefficient
from the wall to air. It is known that, in this case, heat
transfer enhancement requires an increase in the air
flow velocity which, in turn, is limited by a quadratic
increase of the pressure drop. With Ca.c. = 0.1, the heat
transfer coefficient α2 from the wall to air cannot be
maintained above 100 W/(m2 K).
Under conditions when the heat transfer coeffi-
cient α1 from the f lue gas to the wall, which is much
greater than α2 according to the results of the previ-
ous experiments due to water vapor condensation, is
determined with an uncertainty, it is advisable to
assume k = 40–60 W/(m2 K) to simplify the calcula-
tions. For more details, see [5].
THERMAL ENGINEERING Vol. 64 No. 9
683
Then substituting (15) and (16) in equation (8) for
the heat transfer area yields
Qhre (t 0 ) × 10 3
F (t 0 ) =
k Δ t (t 0 ) (17)
G с (t – t ) + G w.v.h1" – G f.g.d f.g. (t 0 ) h0" (t 0 ) × 10 –3
= f.g. р 1 0 ,
k Δ t (t 0 ) × 1 0
–3
The saturated steam enthalpy h0" in the temperature
range between 0 and 60°С is approximated with an
acceptable accuracy by the linear correlation
h0"(t 0 ) = 1.809t 0 + 250 1 .1 . (18)
In correlations (15) and (17), all the values corre-
spond to the inlet conditions or are determined as a
function of t0.
Correlations (15) and (17) are plotted in Fig. 2.
The annual amount of heat delivered by the heat
recovery unit is calculated on the basis of the flue gas
flow averaged over the operation period at a constant
flow of heated air. The duration of the period during
which the ambient air temperature remains constant is
used for determining the average temperature t av of the
heating season τht. If in determining the heat transfer
surface area the mean temperature difference Δt is
calculated assuming that the inlet air temperature
equals the average temperature of the heating season
(t a1 = t av ), the heat output of the heat recovery
exchanger Qhre(t0) will be close to the average output of
the unit over the heating season Qav .
Thus, the annual heat generation in this unit can be
calculated with a sufficient accuracy by the correlation
Δ Q = 3.6Qav τ ht = 3 .6Qh re (t 0 )τ h t, (19)
and then expression (6) can be written in the form
3.6Qhre ( t 0 ) τ htC g
 E ex = . (20)
Qhvη b
Using equations (7), (17), (19), and (20), we can
write the target function for optimization of the flue
gas outlet temperature t0 in the form
E = Q b (t 0 )
⎡ t −t
E c.iC ar ln 0 a1 × 10 ⎤
3
⎢3.6τ htC g (1 − C a.c. ) ⎥
Δ t sat
×⎢ − ⎥,
⎢ Qc u r η b k(t 0 − t a1 − Δ t sat ) ⎥
⎢⎣ ⎥⎦
2017
684 BESPALOV et al.

Table 1. Economic performance of deep recovery of flue gas heat

t0, °С
Design parameter
0 10 20 30 40 50
Gcond, kg/s 0.134 0.130 0.122 0.108 0.085 0.044
Qhre, kW 411.2 389.5 358.7 312.5 240.0 122.1
ΔВ, m3 252134 238808 219938 191571 147115 74 843
Eexp, thousand rubles 945.5 895.5 824.8 718.4 551.7 280.7
Δ t , °С 15.9 22.4 27.6 32.3 36.5 40.6
F, m2 517 348 260 194 131 60
K, thousand rubles 1706.2 1149.8 857.8 639.4 433.5 198.7
C, thousand rubles 350.5 262.0 211.2 167.8 120.2 57.9
E, thousand rubles 595.0 633.5 613.6 550.6 431.5 222.8

or, after substitution of expressions (9), (15), and (18),
E = ⎡G f.g.с р (t1 – t 0 ) + G w.v.h1"
⎢⎣
156 + 8.12t 0
236 + t 0
622 × 10
– G f.g. 1 56 + 8.12t 0 (1.809t 0 + 2501 .1) × 10 ⎥
760 − 10 236 + t 0
⎡ t −t
E c.iC ar ln 0 a1
⎢3.6τ htC g (1 − C a.c. ) Δ t sat
×⎢ − × 10 ⎥ .
⎢ Qcur η b k(t 0 − t a1 − Δ t sat )
⎢⎣
The payback period of the heat recovery exchanger,
T, is calculated as the ratio of the capital cost to the dif-
ference between a decrease in the expenses Eex and the
current operating cost Ccur
K recovery depth and the heat output of the unit. In the
T =  .
E ex − C cur
The Table 1 gives the results of calculation of the tar-
get function at a flue gas flow of 1 m3/s for designing a
heat recovery exchanger operating under the climatic
conditions and in the economic situation of Tomsk for
τht = 5352 h, ta1 = –8.5°С [6], and heating of cold air to
30°C. In the calculations, the following initial data were
adopted: the wholesale price for natural gas sold to con-
sumers of ОАО Gazprom in Tomsk oblast effective
since July 1, 2015, [7] was Cg = 3.75 rub/m3, the gas
heating value was Q = 33.08 MJ/m3, and the boiler net-
efficiency was η b = 0.95.
The design experience suggests that the specific
cost of heat transfer surface in surface-type condens-
ing plate heat recovery exchanger with air heating
examined in [1, 8] is Car = 3300 rub/m2. The heat
transfer coefficient from the flue gas to air is taken to
be k = 50 W/(m2 K).
When designing power equipment, the capital
investment efficiency factor is taken to be Еc.i = 0.15,
the operating cost factor, Co.c = 0.1. The results
obtained in designing actual units with a heat output
between 1 and 15 MW confirm that the operating cost
factor does not exceed the adopted value.
For curves of Eexp(t0), C(t0), and E(t0), see Fig. 3.
⎤
–3 ⎥ To determine the optimal outlet temperature of
flue gas, the value of t0 is to be found at which the
⎥⎦ derivative of target function (21) is E ' (t 0 ) = 0 (Fig. 4).
⎤ (21) The optimal outlet temperature of flue gas at the
⎥ above-specified factors is t0 opt = 10°С yielding a pay-
3
back period of 1.5 years. It should be noted that the
⎥ found temperature enables us to calculate the optimal
⎥⎦ area of the condensation surface to be used in design-
ing a heat recovery exchanger. After the design is com-
pleted, operating conditions of the designed heat
recovery exchanger are calculated at various ambient
air temperatures. The ambient air temperature will
vary during the heating season affecting the heat
course of operation, the flow of cold air should be
controlled, and a part of it should be recirculated to
prevent condensate freezing.
A gentle slope of the target function curve near the
maximum point results in quite a wide range of tem-
peratures for a slight deviation from the maximum
anticipated profit. Thus, a deviation of 5°С in t0 opt
decreases the anticipated profit by 1% and the payback
period to 1.3 years.
Evaluation of the effect of each of the factors on t0 opt
yields the following.
The effect of climatic conditions should be exam-
ined together with other factors, since the average
temperature and duration of the heating season vary
from region to region. When going from Yakutsk to the
North Caucasus, t0 opt varies from 5 to 20°С. An
increase in the fuel (natural gas) price improves the
economic effectiveness upon reduction of the fuel
consumption, increases the annual profit, and
decreases the optimal temperature. An increase in the
gas price from 2.5 to 6 rub/m3 decreases t0 opt from
15 to 6°С. The total heat transfer coefficient k has a

THERMAL ENGINEERING Vol. 64 No. 9 2017

 INVESTIGATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE DEPTH 685

Еexp, С, Е, thousand rubles replace the constant value of Car with a linear function
increasing the specific cost with decreasing the heat
transfer area, the optimum point would not be shifted,
since it is located closer to the region of the maximum
800 1
capacity of the heat recovery exchanger.

600 CONCLUSIONS
(1) The derived target correlation for the antici-
2 pated profit of a power enterprise as a function of the
400 flue gas temperature at the condenser outlet attains a
maximum and depends on many factors, such as the
3 average temperature and duration of the heating sea-
200 son, natural gas price, total heat transfer coefficient,
and the specific cost of heat transfer surface.
(2) For the values of the above-listed factors
0 10 20 30 40 50 t0, °C
adopted in the investigation in the climatic conditions
and the economic situation in Tomsk, the optimal flue
Fig. 3. Dependence of an annual decrease in the cost for gas temperature at the condenser outlet was 10°С and
heat generation (1), the anticipated annual profit (2), and the design payback period was 1.5 years.
the annual reduced cost (3) on the outlet flue gas tempera- (3) A gentle slope of the target function curve near its
ture for the deep heat recovery. maximum point extends the range of temperatures to be
considered in designing a heat recovery exchanger.
Therefore, additional investigations of the effect indi-
E × 10–4 vidual groups of factors on the optimum are required.

0 gas dehydration with use of the water vapor condensation
–1
–2
0 10 20 30 40 t0, °C
Fig. 4. Dependence of the derivative of anticipated profit
function on the outlet flue gas temperature for the deep
heat recovery.
direct effect on the heat transfer surface area and,
hence, the capital cost. As k rises, for example, from
30 to 70 W/(m2 K), the optimal temperature drops
from 17 to 7°С.
A decrease in the specific cost of the heat transfer
surface area cuts down the capital expenditures for heat
recovery with an increase in the anticipated annual
profit. The use of stainless steel in place of galvanized
steel sheets can increase the capital expenditures by a
factor of 2 or more. A change in the specific cost of the
heat transfer surface area from 2000 to 6000 rub/m2
increased the optimal temperature from 6 to 18°С. If we
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Translated by T. Krasnoshchekova

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